Currently Playing: Dragon Age II

After watching Dragon Age Redemption Episode 1 webseries, it got me in the mood to play some Dragon Age II, along with download the new DLC for it. I only have one question for myself, why the heck did I quit playing this game?? I know the answer, I got burnt out and another game came out, although I can’t remember which one.

My biggest problem with RPG’s is that I try to do EVERYTHING and play for multiple hours a day for a week or two in a row, not playing any other games. This gets me so tired of a game and, sometimes, makes me never want to go back. But I’ll tell you, with this game I’m glad I did.

I forgot how fun this game is! When I originally played the demo, I picked a mage simply because the fight style was so awesome. AoE’s that do massive damage, Ice spells that stop multiple enemies in their tracks, and a powerful regular attack, what more could you want? The problem with this is that Mages also have the lowest defense, so this leads to more deaths.

This was my problem, actually, after coming back from a 5 month hiatus. The combat isn’t horribly complex, but it sure does take some getting used to. When I stopped, I was 2 main quests away from hitting Act 3. Instead of going right into it, I did some side quests, which reminded me both the good and bad about this game

The bad is how repetitive the side quests are. Sure, you’re fighting slightly different enemies in different areas, but thats about it. Act 2 introduced areas that looked like the Deep Roads, but that doesn’t make any sense because the Deep Roads was supposed to be all but closed off. Also, the difficulty spikes are crazy! This isn’t anything new, the first game had the same problem. As much as I don’t like to do so, I ended up putting the game on easy after dying about 5 times.

This is actually where the game got even more fun. That’s right, putting the game on easy made this game better! Putting it on easy does not make this game so easy that you cannot die. In fact, even after I put it on easy, I still died during one of the harder side quests. What it DOES do, is allows you to feel stronger, feel more like the Hero that you are. I’m not sure exactly what it does, but it seems to not have just made enemies easier. One thing I was happy is that the AI isn’t dumb. They’ll still move out of the way of AoE’s, if they can, and they’ll still attack me when I try to triple attack them.

So there it is, a write up on one of my biggest Games of Shame and where I stand with it. At the time of this writing, I am at the beginning of Act 3 with the new DLC downloaded, but not played. I do want to blow through this game and be able to put it back in the drawer, knowing that I got my money’s worth, but I also want to enjoy it. The problem with this is there is only 18 days till Skyrim, when there really might not be time for anything else. So that’s my goal, beat Dragon Age II before Skyrim hits!

When I play/beat the DLC, I’ll put my impressions on here, and when I beat the game I’ll probably post here also, so look forward to that!